Thank You For the Venom
by MienFacade
Summary: A mysterious woman comes to Gotham from Chicago, wanting a change of scenery. She soon makes herself known as a criminal genious, but how will the Joker take the news of a competitor? Joker/OC rated M for future chapters
1. SoYou're Alive

A woman shifted in her seat on the plane. Just by glancing at her one could tell she was extremely uncomfortable, but for no apparent reason. She was seated in first class, had just finished a nice meal of steak and potatoes- much better than what most people on the plane were eating- and she had a window seat. But still every minute or so she would fidget around nervously, as if she were expecting someone to jump out at her any minute. Whenever anyone would walk by her seat she would sit up immediately and be on full alert until they returned to their original seat. Her eyes were constantly shifting around her, mistrust clearly visible in them. The woman was never fully relaxed and it was obvious that she never let her mind wander. She straightened out her leather jacket and tugged at her skinny jeans, just to have something to do. She glanced impatiently at her watch; it read 8:43, which meant that she still had another forty-seven minutes on this god-forsaken plane. She ran her fingers through her black hair, messing up a small braid that had rested there in the process. Without even thinking about it her fingers found the destroyed braid and redid it perfectly. If anyone had taken the time to notice one would have found she did this quite often, almost once every fifteen minutes, a nervous habit.

A young flight attendant walked by. She looked no older that twenty-three and was graced with the perfect blonde hair and bright blue eyes, the kind of looks that would have any guy falling for her, but the girl was obviously oblivious to this fact. The woman in the seat studied this girl. She looked so innocent, something the woman wished she could still be. But when one grew up in Chicago, especially on the South-side, innocence was something one couldn't afford for very long. "Anything to drink Miss?" The flight attendant asked politely. The woman with raven hair marveled at how polite this girl could be; after all she was a flight attendant, and the woman had been paying attention to all the pricks on the plane.

"Just water," the woman replied. The girl nodded and filled up a clear plastic cup with water. This woman intrigued her; here she was sitting in first class, the ticket she had bought had everything paid for, including any type of drink, and yet she chose the one that was free. The woman in question nodded her head in thanks as the girl handed her the water; her eyes had never left the girl the entire time she poured the water. One couldn't be too careful. She hesitantly sipped the liquid to make sure that it was in fact just water. She wasn't one to get drunk, or even tipsy unless in the safety of her own home. Discovering that the water was in fact water she quickly finished the drink before tossing the cup in the trashcan that was provided for her. Once again she glanced down at her watch; oh how she hated planes, the feeling of being trapped in something was what bothered her. Not the fact that she was thousands of miles up in the air, or that they could conceivably crash at any moment, not even the thought of terrorists frightened her, it was the fact that technically she was trapped. In a car there is always a chance to escape, even if that involves rolling out of a moving car, which she had done on multiple occasions and received little injury. But not on a plane: on a plane there was no escape until landing. And even then one had to wait around for everyone to get off, which took forever because of idiots blocking the isles while trying to get their bags down, only to realize that there is a different bag blocking theirs, but they're blocking the person the bag belongs to. All in all it was quite infuriating.

The woman would had slept had she any protection with her, but no! She wasn't allowed to carry her weapons onto the airplane with her. So the only protection she had was her own strength, which was still a great asset, but did not make her comfortable enough to be in such a vulnerable position as sleeping. So instead she stayed awake, glancing at her watch, ruffling up her hair, re-braiding parts of her hair, glancing out the window, blowing a bubble with her gum, just did anything to keep her busy yet alert. The woman thought of where she was going and smiled. Chicago was great yeah, but it was nothing compared to Gotham. Gotham was something special. In Gotham the criminals ran the city, no matter how hard the cops tried to make it otherwise. True the Batman had come into the picture a while ago, but that would just make it more interesting. In her opinion Batman had just made crime worse. He should have stuck to busting small timers, not the mob. Going after the big guys is what had grabbed the Joker's attention. Finally the plane started its decent. The woman sighed with relief while chewing a piece of gum to prevent her ears from popping, which, in her opinion, was the most annoying thing in the world. As soon as the fasten seat belt sign was off the woman was out of her seat, bag in hand, waiting for the doors to open. When the doors were finally opened she moved quickly towards her freedom, not even bothering to acknowledge the flight attendants saying good-bye. The woman took a deep breath as she stepped off the plane. "Freedom," She said softly to herself. Looking around she soon found the baggage claim area, picking up two carts as she went she made her way over to the conveyer belt. Most of her things were being shipped separately, but there were some of her belongings she didn't trust with deliverymen. Within the hour she had found all of her eleven bags and piled them up onto the carts.

In all honesty she was very surprised that her bags hadn't been searched due to the fact that four of them were full of weapons. But she wasn't complaining. The woman dug through her coat pocket for her cell phone. Scrolling down the list of contacts she pressed the call button at the name Mike. The phone rang three times before someone answered it. "Who is this?" a gruff voice on the other end asked.

"I need to speak to Mike," the woman replied, completely ignoring the question.

"What's the password?" the gruff voice replied annoyed at being ignored.

"How about I answer your first question?" The woman asked, though it wasn't much of a question. "Venom." There was a shocked silence on the other end. "Hello? Anybody there, did you faint on me?" She asked sarcastically.

"Mike thought you was dead!" The man finally replied.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Yes, that was the plan. Now give the phone to Mike." The man complied and the woman heard Mike's excited voice on the other line.

"Jesus Venom, is it really you? Because if this is some prank I swear to God-"

"Your real name is Gandalf because your parents were Lord of the Rings freaks, you changed your name when you were eighteen, moved out of your home and never went back. You never forgave them for naming you that because you got teased daily when you were younger until you turned into the bad ass we all know and love."

"My God it really _is_ you, and if you repeat that to anyone there'll be hell to pay."

"If you can catch me, I've changed a bit since the last time you saw me." Venom explained. "Now we can catch up on gossip later but right now I'm at the airport and need a ride."

"The airport? Gotham's airport?" Mike asked.

"No Puerto Rico, yes Gotham idiot." Venom replied sarcastically. "Now hurry up I'm impatient, and bring something big, I've got eleven bags with me."

"Eleven?" Mike asked shocked. Venom responded with a patronizing silence. "Right, I'll be right there." He told her.

"See you soon old man." Venom teased him before hanging up. It was a nickname she had called him when they were younger, since his name _was_ Gandalf. She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for him to show up. She didn't like staying in one place too long. It just didn't feel right to her. Finally she saw a black van pull up to where she was standing. The doors slid open and a man of around 6'4 jumped out. He flicked his brown hair out of his eyes while he looked around. Venom smiled, he hadn't recognized her; she was going to give him shit about this for years to come.

"Damn, where is that girl?" he asked himself. "Hurry up and bring something big; I have eleven bags," he mocked in a girl voice.

"I knew you were a cross dresser by night, Mike! All the bad ass guys really are." Venom laughed at him. The man whipped around to face her; an expression of recognition spread across his face.

"Venom?" He asked shocked. Venom just smiled and nodded her head. "You look different." He told her as he made his way forward to give her a hug. Despite the fact that Venom wasn't really the hugging type, she allowed him to wrap his arms around her for a moment before pulling away.

"We can talk in the van." Venom said walking towards it. "I don't like staying in one place for too long." She explained. Mike shrugged his shoulders and helped her load her luggage in the back.

"Jesus, what do you have in here? Bricks?" he joked as he carried one of her bags.

"Weapons," Was Venom's one word reply. Mike didn't even pause at that answer, after knowing Venom for years he was used to this kind of thing, well not to this extent, but who was he to judge. After a few minutes the van was loaded and they were pulling away from the curb. For a few minutes they drove in silence. Venom smirked knowing that the silence was probably driving Mike mad. He wasn't one to leave questions unanswered, and she was pretty sure he had a million questions for her. She wasn't wrong.

"So, you're alive." Mike spoke up finally, not able to stand the silence much longer.

"Obviously." Venom replied rolling her eyes, the least he could do was ask interesting questions, not make obvious statements.

"But you died." Mike said emphatically. "I saw you die." Disbelief was evident in his voice.

"You did?" Venom asked curiously. "How?"

"There's this wonderful contraption called the TV." Mike replied sarcastically.

"Ooh! My fake death got on TV? I'm so proud!" she laughed. Mike gave her a look that clearly meant for her to continue. "Okay so where do you want me to start?"

"When I left." Mike replied keeping his eyes on the road.

"Right okay, so you left after graduation, but I didn't have anywhere to do so I stayed. About a week after that I was walking home from the park when someone started following me."

_Venom's pace quickened considerably when she heard footsteps behind her. Not thinking clearly she ducked into an ally, hoping to loose her pursuer; but he followed her in. She quickly turned around and came face to face with one of __DiFronzo's guys. (DiFronzo is a mob boss in Chicago) "What do you want?" Venom asked the man slowly, trying to figure out a way out of there alive. _

_ The man responded with laughter. "What do you think I want?" He asked her smirking._

_ "My foot, up your ass? Because that's what you're gonna get if you don't get lost." Venom replied sharply. In retrospect not the smartest thing to say, but she kept her calm exterior. In reality her heart was beating a mile a minute. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this situation alive. In the back of her mind she realized that she was going to have to kill this man to get away. This was a problem; she had never killed anyone purposely before. Seriously injured? Yes. Maimed for life? Yes. But never killed. _

_ "You have a big mouth, it's gonna get you in trouble one day." He spat back, slinking closer to her. Venom involuntarily took a step back. She had a strange feeling that by 'one day' he meant right now. Before she knew what had happened he had her pinned against the wall. Out of impulse her knee shot up and hit him in the groin. He doubled over in pain and Venom tried to escape. But he grabbed her wrists and slammed her against the wall. Venom stifled a moan, but not one of pain, but one of pleasure. _

_ 'It's times like this being __masochistic __comes in handy.' Venom told herself. She crouched down as if she were in pain, but pulled out her gun that she kept hidden under her jacket. The mob guy yanked her up and found himself on the wrong side of a gun. _

_ Venom's mind was blank; she knew what she had to do, and she was going to do it. All the years of living on the South side had toughened her up, and now she was ready for the next step. Murder. Without giving it another thought she pulled the trigger. The man fell to the ground, dead. Blood splattered onto her jacket from the now dead man. Venom was slightly surprised as she realized she had no feelings on the matter. She was working completely on survival tactics. Suddenly she was surrounded by at least five men, and all of them were armed. Venom realized they must have been with the guy she just killed and swore under her breath. 'Were they there the entire time? And they were just gonna let him rape me? Really. I thought we had a higher-class mob. Can't they at least get laid willingly?' Venom shook her head to clear her thoughts. Now was not the time to have an internal conversation. When Venom looked back up she realized that they gang had gotten closer to her during her internal conversation. 'Well, at least I'll go out with a bang.' She thought to herself as the pack descended on her. She honestly expected them to kill her, or to rape her and then kill her. Not that she was going to go down with a fight, but she knew the odds were against her and the men would most likely win. She used what fighting she knew, which honestly wasn't much, and managed to take down one of the guys and injure another. But as she had expected she was no match for five mob guys. What she most definitely did not expect was for them to take her down to the police station and accuse her of murder. _

_ 'Did not see that one coming.' She told herself, as she was lead to the police station. 'It's not like it's false though.' She told herself as she sat down. She wasn't angry with them for this, she did kill the guy. She was slightly hurt by the fact that they were going to let the guy she had killed rape her. But what really pissed her off though, was the fact that they not only accused her of the murder if the mob guy, but of three other deaths. Obviously the mob had done it and they were trying to pin the blame on someone else. She was just the perfect victim, and this way they got pay back for loosing a guy. 'Unless it was all planned out! And they had been watching me for weeks and knew that if I needed to I would probably kill a guy. And they just sacrificed one of their guys without him knowing!' She rolled her eyes at herself and her ridiculous notions. _

_ A police officer came up to her snapping her out of her thoughts. "Did you kill this man?" he asked handing her a picture of the mob guy._

_ "Yes." Venom responded without hesitation. She was a criminal yes, but she did not lie anymore. She killed the man and she wasn't going to say otherwise. Part of it was also a pride thing. She wasn't about to let someone else take credit for what she had done. No way in hell. "It was self defense." She added. The cop gave her a look that said he clearly didn't believe her. "He was either gonna kill me or rape me, and I wasn't about to let either of those situations play out." She explained, praying that the cop would believe her. But in the back of her mind she knew her chances were slim. This was Chicago, and everything was corrupt. _

_ "That's not what these gentlemen here say." He responded, indicating to the other mob guys._

_ "Well I'm assuming he was their friend, of course their gonna want to cover his ass!" Venom replied seething. Just because she had expected him to not believe her didn't make her any less angry when he didn't. The police officer gave her a __patronizing __look. Venom caught a glimpse of a wad of cash in his back pocket. 'Of course, in our lovely city corruption runs rampant. The mob fucking paid him off. Asshole.'_

_ "I'm going to have to take you to a holding cell for the night." The officer informed her after taking her mug shot and information. Venom saw no point in struggling; there were too many cops around for her to make an escape. The man roughly threw her into a cell before slamming the door in her face._

_ "Fucker," Venom spat under her breath. The least he could do was to pretend to be sorry, but no, he has to be a dick on top of everything. 'This is not a good day.' Venom thought to herself glumly. Seeing nothing else to do she took a seat on the uncomfortable cot provided for her and planned. She knew this city was corrupt but this was unbelievable. 'Somehow I'm going to find a way to make them all pay.' She vowed to herself. 'First thing's first, a way out of here.' It only took her a moment to realize she had a way out. Venom could have danced for joy once she realized that the cop hadn't searched her. She still had a knife strapped to her calf and her lock picking supplies in her jacket pocket. "God he's an idiot and a fucker." She mumbled happily. Venom knew that she would have to wait until the night, when most of the officers left, to break out. 'I'll probably have to kill the cops that are still here.' She thought to herself. 'Great the first time I murder someone and I'm going to have to murder at least two more people. I don't even get a break!' Venom realized that the saying 'it's a slippery slope' was very true in this case. She had been loosing bits of her humanity for years; this was just the straw that broke the camel's back. _

_ With nothing else to do for about a good three hours Venom planned out how she was going to make this city pay, to bring it to its knees. It would be fun. 'The police can't know who I am; otherwise they could use that to find out information about me, which could be used as leverage against me.' She realized. 'So first thing first there can be no indication that I was here; which means finding my files and destroying them. Also finger prints could be taken so I'll have to wipe everything off that I could have perceivably touched.' After a moments thought she realized how ridiculous that was; she had no idea what she had gotten her prints on. 'What do people do to hide what they've done?' she asked herself. She thought back to all the movies she had watched over the years. 'They burn it down.' She answered her own question, smiling. The next two hours of her life were spent planning how she was going to break out of her cell, kill the guards, and blow the place up before anyone found out. 'I should strike right after a shift change, that will give me the most time, and I would have the least chance of getting caught. After that should I wait a few minutes to make sure the guards have a false sense of security, break out silently, and then take them down; It'll have to be fast so they have no time to sound the alarm.' Venom paused to think. 'Okay so then I'll grab my files and sneak out just incase someone comes before I have a chance to blow the place sky high. I'll break into the firework store and steal some explosives.' She made a mental note to thank Mike for teaching her about explosives if she ever saw him again. 'I bring the explosives back, then sit back and watch the fireworks.' Venom concluded smugly, with that done she just sat back and waited. _

_ Two hours later Venom heard the sounds of men walking into the station. 'Must be the night shift.' She thought to herself. 'I'm almost out of here.' _

"So then I broke out, killed the cops, and blew the place up." Venom finished.

"And they never caught you?" Mike asked surprised.

"Nope, I spent the next couple of years finding and proof of my existence and destroying it. I now have a fake everything. Fake license, fake birth certificate, and social security number." She explained smugly. "It took a hell of a long time, but I got it done."

"So that's why we all thought you were dead." Mike realized.

"Yeah, I faked my own death after I destroyed everything, just to make sure I would never be found." Mike didn't reply right away. "Oh, and thanks for teaching me about explosives and stuff. It really comes in handy." Venom added as and after thought. They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Mike spoke up.

"So where am I taking you exactly?"

"Huh? Oh Hardy Avenue. I bought a condo there."

"Isn't that kind of close to the Narrows?" Mike asked concerned. Venom looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Well, yeah, but I haven't exactly been the most innocent person the last coupe of years. Trust me I can hold my own." She reassured him.

"In Chicago maybe, but this is Gotham. It's worse than Chicago, a lot worse! I mean we've got crazies running around like the Joker. I mean hell Venom, I know you're tough, but this is serious!" Mike tried to reason with her.

Venom rolled her eyes at Mike's worrying. "Do you really think I haven't improved at all from back then Mike? Really, I'm a black belt in three different Martial Arts, I box, I street fight, I can shoot, I can use a knife, and for some reason I taught myself how to fence. Whatever anyone throws at me, I'll be fine. Besides, I own Chicago. Understand? Gotham's got the Joker and Chicago's got me."

"I'm really glad I'm friends with you and not your enemy." Mike laughed, although he was somewhat serious. Venom just smiled at him and turned to look out the window. Soon Mike was pulling up to Venom's condo. The moving truck was already there, waiting for them. Venom hopped out of the car before it was at a complete stop and made her way over to the movers. Mike shook his head at her dare devil ways and pulled the car to a stop before getting out and following her. After three hours of Venom directing the men as to where things should go and trying not to yell at them, her condo was pretty much set up. Now all she had left to do was unpack and set up the household decorations.

"Finally!" Venom exclaimed as she flopped down onto her leather couch. Mike soon joined her, feeling exactly the same way. "I swear those men are some of the thickest men I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with." Mike laughed in agreement. He could have sworn Venom was ready to kick them out and just do everything herself. Venom glanced at her watch, "Well, it's about time for dinner, want to come to the store with me to get food and stuff?" She inquired.

"Can't we just go out for dinner?" Mike complained. He really didn't want to go shopping. He just wanted to sit down and not really do anything.

"No, because I just had airplane food, and am therefore in need of real food." Venom explained. "Now c'mon, get your fat ass up and let's go." Mike was about to reply that she was also on the couch, but he realized that she had gotten up sometime during their conversation. He hadn't even realized she had moved, let alone gotten up. Mike sighed, realizing he was going to loose the argument one way or another, and got up off the couch.

Mike and Venom had been at the store for about an hour, and Mike was ready to just go home. But of course he had a feeling he'd be eating with Venom, so that wasn't going to happen any time soon. When they reached the check out counter Mike looked over at Venom. "You do have money for this right?"

Venom just smiled at him as the check out person rang up her items. The total was three hundred twenty-seven dollars and thirty-four cents. Without batting an eye Venom pulled out the amount due in cash, grabbed the cart full of food and left. Mike stood still for a moment thinking how dumb someone must be to carry that much money around with her in cash in Gotham, before following her. "Yes Mike I have enough money," Venom smirked as he reached her. "Honestly I thought you thought better of me, after all, I was the best criminal in all of Chicago."

"You shouldn't carry that much money around with you here, it's not safe." Mike spoke up as they got into the car.

"It's really not safe to carry this much money anywhere." Venom retorted. "But I do it anyway." She stuck her tongue out at him and laughed.

"Sure, real mature Venom." Mike rolled his eyes at her antics. Venom just flashed him a smile before turning to stare out the window. When they got back to Venom's condo Venom grabbed almost half of all the bags and brought them up on the first trip. Mike could only manage to grab five at a time. The next hour and a half was spent unpacking the groceries and Venom cooking. She had kicked Mike out of the kitchen after he nearly broke her favorite bowl. Just under an hour later dinner was ready and Venom called Mike in to set the table.

"I swear to God if you break anything you'll regret it." Venom warned him as she dished out the food. She had made schnitzel and spatzle, one of her favorite meals. Schnitzel was thinly pounded pork, which was breaded and then fried, and spatzle was a type of very small German dumpling made with flour, egg, milk, and a dash of salt and nutmeg. To top it all off Venom had prepared a small salad, nothing special but she liked to eat healthily. She couldn't afford to get fat in her line of work. No one would take a fat woman criminal seriously! It would ruin her reputation.

"This is really good." Mike said motioning to the food. Venom nodded in acknowledgement to his compliment but said nothing. She wasn't really one to partake in small talk. "So do you have any plans?" Mike asked after a while. He was the polar opposite of Venom; he hated silence and loved small talk.

"I tend not to really make that many plans unless it's for a big job, I sent in an application for an auto shop, so if they accept me I guess I'll work there until I can work things out criminally. I mean I have enough money to get by for a while, but I don't like just sitting around not doing anything." Venom explained. Mike didn't know how to reply to that. It kind of creeped him out that Venom was so similar to the Joker. They finished dinner quickly and Mike stood up.

"Well, I should probably get going now." Mike told Venom. Venom looked up at him from a suitcase she was crouched over. She simply nodded and went back to unpacking the suitcase. Right before Mike walked out the door Venom spoke up.

"Mike remember that if anyone suddenly finds out who I am I'll know it was you." She spoke softly and it sounded almost conversational, but Mike knew it was a threat.

"Of course Venom." He replied heading out the door. The threat didn't bother him that much. He was sort of expecting it and if he were in her position he would do the same thing. Venom smirked to herself, she knew Mike wouldn't turn her in, they went way back, but it was never a bad thing to be careful about these things. Besides the only person the cops could possibly use as leverage against her was Mike, and that was on a good day. It would be completely pointless for Mike to tell them who she was because a) then she wouldn't give a fuck what happened to him, and b) the cops would be stupid to try to use the person who had ratted her out as leverage. Sighing Venom realized that she was too tired to get any real unpacking done. She changed into her pajama's and got ready for bed. Before climbing into bed she slid a knife under her mattress, put a gun on her nightstand and locked all of the doors and windows. She would set up the full alarm system tomorrow. Now feeling relatively safe she allowed herself to drift into unconsciousness.

A/N1: So guys what do you think? This is obviously going to be a lot different from Break Your Rule. I really like what I have planned for this story, and hope you guys like it too.

A/N2: As you could probably tell I'm trying to make these chapters longer than my ones for Break Your Rule, which means this story won't be updated as often. Let me know what you guys think!


	2. He Was Being An Ass

Venom woke up the next morning slightly disoriented before realizing where she was. Groaning she got up realizing she needed to finish unpacking all of her belongings. Not even bothering to dress she moved into her living room and looked at all of the boxes and suitcases she still had to unpack. Sighing to herself, she started on the project. After five hours of relentless work Venom had unpacked her last bag. She looked over her apartment and smiled to herself; it looked good. She had all of her weapons unpacked and in their proper positions throughout the apartment. The weapons were laid out in a special way so that if she ever needed to get at them quickly she could and would have a simple but reliable way to do so. She had some weapons hidden in plain sight and others hidden throughout the rooms. Her katana was proudly displayed on her coffee table. It had taken her years of training in order to earn one; but in the end it had been worth it. Venom glanced at a clock and saw that it was only 10:30. She decided it was as good a time as any to shop for security things. She went into her room and quickly changed into a pair of skinny jeans, MCR T-shirt, biker jacket and a pair of combat boots. She slid her favorite knife into its proper place in a slit in her boot, strapped one of her guns to her leg, and a small dagger on her left arm. Nothing looked out of place, and if you had looked at her she would have looked like a normal twenty-something year old. Puling her hair back she grabbed her purse and headed down the stairs. She smiled remembering that her bike had been delivered last night. It was a Benelli four-cylinder supercharged 250cc-racing bike, and it was Venom's pride and joy. Before Venom left she made sure she had enough cash on her. She never paid for anything with a credit card, well unless it was someone else's. She always had enough cash anyway so there was no need for her to be charged interest if she paid with a card.

She stepped out of her apartment building and made her way over to her bike. Within fifteen minutes Venom was in the heart of Gotham and was pulling up to an electronics store. She checked her pocket to make sure she had her list with her before stepping into the store. Before getting too far in Venom made sure to take note of all of the possible exists, just in case she needed to escape. This was a habit she had picked up a while ago, and it had come in handy a couple of times. Venom nearly punched an employee when he came up to her and asked if she needed any help. She hadn't realized he was there.

"Oh, yes please. I need all of this." She replied handing him the list. The items looked ordinary enough, but Venom was great at putting them together to make a great security system. In the end Venom had fifteen video cameras, ten mini monitors that could be split up into four or eight sections, a number of different alarms, remotes for the cameras, a handful of laser pointers, and way more motors and pieces of metal than any ordinary person could ever need. Getting all of the supplies took about an hour, due to the amount. When she checked out the guy at the counter smiled when he saw everything that she had.

"Making your own security system?" he asked her as he scanned the items. Venom hid her shock well; she never let anyone know she was surprised if she could help it.

"How did you know?" She asked him, since there was no reason to deny it.

"I built my own too. Used most of the stuff you have here." He explained smiling. "Your total is $4,598.48." Venom pulled out fifty 100-dollar bills and handed them to the guy at the counter.

"Keep the change." She told him.

"I didn't catch your name?" The guys said.

"I know." Venom replied before grabbing all of her bags and leaving the store before anyone could say anything. Venom put all of her new belongings into the bags on her bike and drove back home. She still had a lot of stuff to buy, but that was the one downside to having a bike and not a car: no storage room. After stopping at her new apartment to drop everything off Venom went back out to get more for her security system. Although she had covered her tracks very well she wanted to make sure the police weren't going to find her, or if they did, that she would be able to get away with plenty of time to spare. Venom got a number of pulley systems, nets, metal bars, tarps, and ropes. The man at the store thought she was making a science project for science, and Venom didn't find it necessary to correct him. The less people who knew that she was making a security system, the less suspicious she would be, and while Venom liked credit for her crimes she didn't like getting caught. Before she knew it Venom was back at her apartment starting to set everything up. If she hadn't been used to it by now setting up her complex security system would have taken weeks to finish. But luckily for Venom she had done this a few times so it would only take a couple of days to finish.

What she had to do first was set up all the cameras and screens, so that she could see every inch of her apartment. She also had a few extra cameras that she set aside to use for the hall and some of the entrances of the apartment complex. By the time she finished setting up the cameras it was 7:30 and her stomach was complaining from the lack of food. Realizing that she hadn't eaten anything that day Venom decided to take a break for food. Not really feeling like cooking Venom grabbed her bag and headed out the door, not really sure where she was going. She reached her bike and just started driving, before she knew it she was in front of Mike's club. The line outside the door went all the way around the block, but Venom was in no mood for waiting. She parked her bike and then walked right past the line and went up to the bouncer. The man looked at her condescendingly, obviously not in the mood to deal with someone trying to cut the line.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you have to wait in line, just like everyone else." The man told her gruffly. Venom was annoyed to say the least; she hadn't eaten anything all day, she had been working her ass off all day, and she had just cooked for this guy's boss last night!

"I'm on the list, the name's Venom." She told him icily. It was a complete lie, but she needed him distracted. The man rolled his eyes but looked at his list none-the-less. While he was distracted Venom slid out one of her knives and slit his throat; it felt nice, she hadn't killed someone in a while and that had been bothering her. People at the front of the line saw what had happened and started screaming. Mike came running out to see what the problem was and was surprised to find Venom there holding a bloody knife and his bouncer dead on the sidewalk. "He was being an ass, don't worry I'll get you another guy and pay for the training and blah, blah, blah, just make sure I'm on the list next time, ok?" Venom told Mike. He just stood there and nodded. Venom smirked and walked into the club. By this time everyone had crowded around to see what was going on, they all gave her, her space as she walked in. This was a criminal hang out, but it had been a while since someone had been killed in cold blood.

Venom ignored all of the stares, secretly loving it. She liked getting attention for her work, and it was nice to start making a name for herself in this town. Venom headed over to the restaurant part of the club. She sat down and was pleased to see when the waiter came over to her right away, obviously he didn't want there to be any reason for her to kill him. "Wh-what can I get you this ev-evening Miss?" He asked, terrified.

"Um, I'll start with a glass of cold water, no ice. Then lobster bisque and the Chicken Caesar Salad, no tomatoes." Venom relied coolly. The waiter nodded and practically ran away. A couple of minutes later Mike walked over to her.

"Girl, it is amazing that you can slit a guy's throat and not get any blood on you." He told her.

"It's a talent." Venom smirked. "So I'd say I was sorry about you're guy, but I don't apologize, so sucks that you lost a guy." She told him. "I'm really tired," she added as an after thought. "So, where do you find bouncers?" She asked him sweetly. Mike resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I'll find the guy, you pay for the training, okay?" He asked her. Venom smiled brightly at him.

"So did everyone calm down yet?" She asked him as the waiter Justin, she later found out, brought her, her bisque.

"Pretty much, they're used to violence, just not so unexpected as your display."

"Well, I do try to be original." She joked.

"Yeah, but you could have just stabbed him or something, it would have had the same effect." He grumbled. He was kind of annoyed with Venom, but at the same time slightly terrified if her, so there wasn't much he could do. He figured that even with some of his guys Venom would still win, and that scared him. He hadn't realized until then how much Venom had changed. The rest of the night passed quietly, well quietly for a club. Venom ate her meal while talking to Mike and left soon after she was done.

Jeff couldn't wait until he got off of work, did he have something to tell his boss! It wasn't everyday that his day job actually did something for his real job. As soon as he got off of work he headed straight over to the hideout. As soon as he walked through the door he was greeted by the other clowns. "Hey, is the boss here?" He asked, out of breath.

"Yeah, in the back," Charlie answered. "Why?"

"Something actually happened at work." Jeff replied happily.

"For once." Charlie teased. Jeff just rolled his eyes and made his way to the back.

"Boss?" he asked tentatively, you could never tell what mood he was in.

"Uh, yeah?" The Joker replied looking up from his desk.

"You told me to tell you whenever something or someone strange came into the shop." Jeff started, suddenly nervous.

"…Aaannndd?" Joker inquired.

"This tough looking chick came in and bought a ton of stuff for a homemade security system. I called up Rick from another store and the same chick came in and bought a ton of ropes, pulley's, nets, tarps, and metal bars. She's no ordinary person. Plus I've never seen her before. I think she's new." He finished excitedly.

"Hm," The Joker said to himself. This did sound intriguing. "And did you find out her name, uh, credit card information? Anything? Hmm"

"Um, well no." Jeff replied his voice cracking at the end.

"Noooo?" The Joker asked dragging out the 'o'. "And why didn't little Jeffy weffy find out anything about this mystery girl?" Joker asked in a clowny voice, but Jeff new better than to think that he was anything but dead serious.

"Sh-she paid in cash. So I couldn't get any information from a card or anything, and when I told her I hadn't caught her name she just said I know and walked out." Jeff said, hoping that this was an acceptable excuse.

"Did she really?" Joker asked smiling. "Well, this girl sounds interesting. Do you at least have a, uh, picture?"

"Yeah, here." Jeff said handing a couple of photos he had printed off from the security footage. Joker whistled as he looked through the pictures. He grinned to himself as a plan formed in his mind. "Jeff, get the guys." Joker snapped at him. Jeff scrambled out of the room, thanking the heavens that the Joker hadn't killed him after getting the information he needed.

"Yo, boss wants all of us." Jeff explained as he came to the room where all the guys were hanging. Quickly all of the men stood up and made their way to the boss, no one wanted to be late, that usually resorted in getting killed.

"Boys, we have a new…." The Joker paused looking for the right word. "Uh, project shall we say." He paused for dramatic affect. "See this girl here?" He asked pointing to one of the pictures. The guys all nodded, showing that they understood. "I want anything and everything you can find on her. Name, where she lives, job if she had any, criminal activity, where is she from, who does she know in this town, what does she do, where does she go, what are her favorite foods? EVERYTHING! Do you, uh, understand?" Joker waited for his guys to respond

Soon a chorus of "yes boss", "sure thing", and "understood" were heard from the room.

"Good now get out of my sight and do something useful!" Joker told them all. The clowns left the room and the Joker finally had peace and quiet. He smiled as he looked at the picture of the girl in the photo. This was going to be fun, he could already tell.

A/N1: hey guys so sorry it's been so long! I've had major writers block, and for some reason just haven't felt like writing and I didn't want to force myself to write and then have a shitty chapter. So here is the next chapter, it's not as long as I would have liked, but it'll have to do.

A/N2: Please let me know what you guys think! You're reviews make me update faster…normally.


	3. The Stacked Deck

Venom woke up early the next morning and continued working on her security system. She had a number of traps to set up; she had never really seen the point in only having one. I mean what if there was a group of people? Sure one guy would be held up, but not the rest. So she had twelve traps to put up.

First she attached the nets to ropes on each corner and screwed in the pulley systems to her walls. She then fed the rope through the pulley systems and secured the nets in place, where no one would see them. Next she set up the catch on the door and wall and floor that would cause this trap to engage. She did the same thing for all the windows in her place; you never know how people are going to try to get into your place. By the time she was done with that it was well past noon. Venom just pulled out a couple ingredients to make a salad. She also pulled out some shrimp and heated them up to put on her salad. She still hadn't heard back from the garage about her job yet, so she ate a leisurely lunch. She finished a little around one and decided to explore the city.

One of the many reasons she had never been caught in Chicago was because she knew the city better than anyone. She knew all the alleys and streets, which roofs she could run on, everything. If she was going to make a name for herself in Gotham she would need to have the same advantage. Although she loved her bike the best way to get to know a city was on foot, so she grabbed her keys from the counter and headed out the door. It was still light out so she figured now would be the best time to explore the narrows. Not that she couldn't handle herself, but she would prefer to know the layout better before she got into a fight.

She wandered around the back alleys and streets for a few hours, memorizing all she could, making notes of dead-ends, fire escapes, and other useful things. It started to get dark, Venom checked her watch for the time; it was 7:00. By the time she got home and cooked herself a meal it would be well past 9, and she really didn't want to have to deal with dishes, so she set about finding a place to eat. She decided against Mike's club, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself yet…although she had killed that guy so maybe it was too late for that. Regardless, she thought back to her exploration and remembered passing a club called The Stacked Deck, it looked seedy, but Venom didn't really care. She turned around and walked back the way she had come, towards the club. Soon the sound of pounding music found her ears and she followed the music to the club. It had been pretty empty when she had passed by a few hours ago, but now it was starting to fill up with people. She stood a few meters away from the door and pulled out her phone, calling Mike.

After a few rings he picked up, "What's the deal on The Stacked Deck?" Venom asked, skipping the pleasantries.

"It's a night club/restaurant where criminals tend to hang out. Not in the best area, but only a few minor fights break out every week. Reasonable food, good drinks, good poker." Mike replied, he had decided against telling Venom to stay away from there, he knew she wouldn't listen, and would only resent him for trying to control her. The girl he had known in high school was long gone, what innocence she had had left had been stolen by the mob that night.

"Thanks dear." Venom replied before hanging up. She walked into the club and took a seat at one of the empty tables. Soon a waiter came over to her to take her order, she ordered a scotch and a burger, not really trusting the food here, despite what Mike had said. As she waited for her order she leaned back in her chair and observed the room. There were a number of poker games going on at different tables, some guys sat at the bar sipping their drinks and paying no attention to the world around them. When her food arrived Venom continued to watch the room, trying to discern who worked together, and who had rivalries. She would put names to the faces later on. She finished her meal and left some cash on the table, heading over to a poker game.

"You fellas mind if I join you?" She asked, already pulling up a chair.

"You look familiar, have we met?" One of the guys asked her as he shuffled the deck. He has short brown hair and green eyes, was of medium height and build, but Venom could see his muscles under his shirt.

"I doubt it, I just moved here." Venom replied, carefully watching the guy as he dealt the cards, making sure he didn't cheat.

"Wait, aren't you the girl form Mike's club?" Another guy asked. This one had shaggy black hair and a 5 o'clock shadow. He was slightly shorter than guy number one, but looked like he could handle himself.

"You're going to have to be more specific, there are lots of girls at Mike's club." Venom replied smoothly, even though she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"You know, the one who killed the bouncer." He answered.

"Oh yeah, that was me." Shadow smiled sweetly as she pushed her tokens forward to call. The game had been progressing as they talked.

"How did you manage to slit his throat without getting any blood on yourself?" the same guy asked. "By the way, the name's Mo."

"Venom, and it's a secret." Venom told him smirking. Venom won that hand with a royal flush and found out that the brown haired guy's name was Jason, and the other player was named Ron.

Jeff couldn't believe his luck; the mystery girl was at the Stacked Deck, playing poker with some of Crane's men. He finished his drink and then stepped outside to call the Joker.

"What-ah is it?" The Joker asked when he picked up the phone.

"Mystery girl is at The Stacked Deck playing poker with Crane's men. She goes by the name Venom, damn good at poker." Jeff relayed the information he had gathered to his boss.

"Hm, maybe I should ah introduce myself." The Joker mused, "I'll be over in a minute, keep her there until I text you." With that the Joker hung up and Jeff headed inside. He sat back down at the bar but kept and eye on Venom. After a few minutes she stood up, collecting a large amount of cash and walked away from the table. Checking that his boss hadn't texted him yet, Jeff swore and followed Venom,

"Hey," he said catching up to her. "You're the girl from the store the other day aren't you?" He held out a hand, "I'm Jeff."

"I knew from your nametag in the store," Venom replied, taking the offered hand. "I'm Venom, but you already knew that from watching me." Jeff cursed silently as he realized that she had noticed him watching her. His phone beeped, alerting him to a text. He glanced down and happily realized it was from the Joker.

He smiled up at her, "I keep and eye out for anyone who's new, especially when they buy stuff for a home security system. With cash." He added.

"Seems reasonable." Venom replied. "Well I better get back to my security system." She walked past him and Jeff let her go, knowing the Joker was already here.

Venom made her way back to her apartment using the alley ways she had explored earlier to shorten her journey. She could feel someone watching her so she turned down an alley and waited for him. "What do you want?" Venom asked as she turned around to face her stalker.

"Well-ah isn't _that_ the uh million dollar question." The man answered walking towards her. He walked with his shoulders hunched in a sort of shuffle step. As he got closer Venom recognized the purple suit. _Great, just great_. Venom thought to herself. _I'm here for less than a week and I get followed by the Joker._

"I feel honoured," Venom said. "The Clown Prince of Crime decides to follow little old me into an alley way. I take it Jeff works for you."

"My my, you`re uh ob-ser-_vant_ aren't you?" The Joker asked while walking closer. "Ya know what-ah? I like you doll. You uh you seem to know how to handle yourself, plus-ah you're good at cards." The Joker smiled at her. "I like cards."

"Really? I couldn't tell." Venom said sarcastically, holding up a Joker card. The Joker stepped towards her and Venom stepped back, she wasn't frightened necessarily, but she didn't want the Joker any closer than necessary.

"You've got ah, spunk. I uh like that in a woman." The Joker smirked at her and took another step forward. This time Venom held her ground, he was obviously going to keep on getting closer, and backing away just made it seem like he had power over her. "In fa-ct, I uh like you _so_ much-ah, I think you should uh come back to my base with-ah me."

"I think I'll pass, thanks." Venom said, "See I've just gotten my own place and spent all this time setting it up. I would hate for it to go to waste." She added and tried to turn away. The Joker caught her wrist and pulled Venom closer.

"That, uh that wasn't really a request." He growled at her.

"Well that's too bad." Venom growled back and yanked her arm out of his hand. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a knife from its sheath.

"Oh, I uh like your style doll." The Joker replied, pulling out a knife of his own, "But uh, you should _know_, no one fights better with a knife than _me._"

"I guess we'll find out." Venom replied. The Joker launched himself at her and she dogged out of the way quickly. She turned around and tried to punch the Joker and knock him off balance, but he blocked her punch and returned it with a kick of his own. Venom stumbled backwards but ran towards the Joker again. They were pretty evenly matched and for a while they exchanged blows, Venom was never able to get in a good cut with her knife. Finally she saw an opening, she allowed the Joker to land a solid punch while she sliced his arm with her knife before falling over from the hit. The Joker started laughing and made his way over to her skipping.

"That-ah was a _nice_ try doll, but-ah I'm simply _better_." He started laughing again once he reached her but his voice got weaker and he had to lean against the alley wall for support. Venom shifted in and out of focus and he tried to clear his head, he hadn't been hit that hard, he shouldn't be reacting like this; unless…He looked down at his arm and saw the cut that Venom had given him. He looked accusingly at Venom.

"There's a reason the call me Venom," she replied sweetly. The Joker staggered and fell over, Venom walked over to him and kicked the knife out of his hand; she reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone. She scrolled through his contacts and called Jeff. "Hey Jeff, it's Venom here, your boss is in the alley way across from the rundown drug store, he's been poisoned, but I'm leaving the antidote with him. Get here soon." She hung up before he could answer and placed a small bottle in the Joker's hand. "It's nothing personal luv, I just don't like being told what to do." With that she turned and walked away, back to her apartment.

Jeff practically ran out of the club, he wasn't sure if the poison was fatal or not, but if it wasn't and he just left the Joker there, his death would be painful. Jeff found his boss quickly and gave him the antidote. He waited until the Joker could stand before calling one of the guys to come pick them up and bring them back to base. He didn't think the Joker would want everyone to see him weak. The Joker was silent the entire ride back, and neither Jeff nor the driver said anything. When the Joker was like this even coughing could mean the end of your life. The only sound in the van was the Joker's foot bouncing up and down while he thought. They finally got back to the base and the Joker jumped out, the poison had been completely neutralized and he was back to his energetic self. "I like her." The Joker finally said. "I like her a-lo**t**." He grinned at his guys who were sitting in the break room. "First guy to find out where she lives gets a promotion." The Joker promised before heading up the stairs laughing.

_She literally has Venom. Isn't she funny? Oh this is gonna be good._ The Joker thought to himself. _Together we can rule this city._

As soon as Venom got home she reset her security system in case someone came in while she was. She hadn't fought in a while and fighting with the Joker had taken a lot out of her. Memo to me: _I really need to join a gym._ Venom told herself before sleep overtook her.

The next morning Venom awoke to her phone buzzing by her ear, she groggily picked it up and answered. "Hello?" She asked.

"Yes, is this Cassadee Williams?" In her still sleepy state it took Venom a moment to remember that was the fake name she had given to the garage.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, this is she." She hastily replied.

"This is Greg from the garage, we just reviewed your application and were wondering when you were free for an interview." The voice on the phone asked.

"Um, I'm basically free whenever." Venom stated, "I just moved here." She added; she didn't want to seem lazy.

"Well then if you could swing by anytime today that would be great." Greg informed her, "It's a weekday so we're normally not that busy."

"Yeah, that sounds great," Venom smiled. "I'll swing by before lunch."

"See you then." Greg said before hanging up the phone. Venom swung out of bed and groaned when her muscles protested. They were sore from the night before and Venom could tell she had a number of bruises covering her body. The pain didn't really bother her, it actually felt nice, but she ignored it and went into the shower. Venom quickly scrubbed off the dirt and grime she had accumulated from the Narrows and left the shower. It took Venom a while to cover up all of her bruises and cuts. Normally she would just let them show, but she was going to a job interview and didn't want to raise any questions.

The job interview went well, Venom told them her experience, she had worked in a number of garages back in Chicago, and they asked her to fix a simple problem on a bike they had in the shop. After the interview "Cassadee" was hired and was told to expect her schedule in a few days. Instead of going back home Venom decided to explore the city a bit more. All she had had time to do was walk around the Narrows, and she wanted to learn more about Gotham. She hailed a cab from the corner by the garage and rose into the center of town. Venom spent the next few hours assessing buildings, checking out the security systems of jewelry stores and the like, and starting to memorize the city. She catalogued everything in her mind and only stopped when her stomach protested from lack of food. Venom realized she was just a few blocks away from Mike's club and decided to go back there, she really hoped her name was on the list because it was the middle of the day and she really didn't want to have to kill anyone right now.

The line wasn't as long as it had been the other night, but Venom still didn't feel like waiting. She walked up to the bouncer, "I'm on the list." Venom smiled sweetly.

"Name." the bouncer replied gruffly.

"Venom." She stated slowly, letting the word slide from her lips, she smiled in satisfaction as the bouncer's eyes grew large in fear.

"Of…of course, go right it. I'll remember you next time ma'am, I mean miss, I mean…" The bouncer stuttered.

"What's your name?" Venom asked him, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

"J-John." The bouncer replied starting to shake.

"Well John, you can call me Venom, and try not to shake when you're afraid, it ruins the tough guy look." She patted his cheek and walked into the club. "Good news old man," Venom said as she slid into a seat at the bar. "I didn't kill your bouncer this time." Venom flashed Mike a brilliant smile like this was some sort of amazing accomplishment, instead of something completely normal.

"Congratulations V," Mike smirked "you've made such personal growth in the past few days. Really, it's like I don't even recognize you any more." Venom punched his arm affectionately.

"Well hopefully you remember what I like to eat." Venom answered.

"Well technically you're not supposed to eat at the bar-" he stopped his sentence short as Venom glared at him. "But I'm sure we can bend the rules for you, I'll be right back." Mike headed over to the kitchen to put in Venom's order. Venom reached over the bar and poured herself a drink as she waited for Mike to return.

"Venom," Mike said as he walked over to her, "I heard some guys talking about the Joker."

"Oh, is he upset about the belladonna?" Venom questioned, sipping her scotch.

"The what?" Mike asked. "You poisoned him?" Mike had to fight to keep his voice down. "Are you crazy V?"

"He wanted to take me to his base, I didn't want to go, we fought, I cut him with a poisoned knife, and left the antidote with him after calling one of his guys. It was a bonding experience." Venom replied dryly.

"Well apparently he has all of his guys out looking for where you live. He's promised whoever finds it a promotion." Mike put his hand over Venom's. "I know you've changed since I last saw you, and you can take care of yourself, but please be careful." Mike couldn't help but still see the girl who had been his best friend since 1st grade when he had punched a guy for pushing her.

Venom rolled her eyes "You're such a drama queen, but if it makes you feel better then yeah sure I'll be safe." Mike smiled at her and went to grab her food.

Venom ate quickly and left some bills on the bar, "Let me know how much training your new bouncer cost." Venom told Mike as she walked out the door, she hadn't paid for the scotch. Venom spent the rest of the day wandering around town but decided to go back to her apartment for dinner. She had been eating out a lot recently and what was the point in buying groceries if she wasn't going to use them?

As soon as she was outside her door she could tell someone had been there. Her door was slightly ajar and she could tell some of the traps had been set off. She pulled out her phone and typed in the activation code to unarm the traps that hadn't been set off yet. The she opened her door and walked in. There were two guys hanging from her ceiling in nets. The nets were made of steel so cutting them to get out was not an option. The only way to release the nets was by a lever in her bedroom. This meant that if someone was sneaking into her apartment, they would either need to bypass all of her security measures to get to her room, or have a large enough team so that there would be someone left after all of the traps had been deployed. "Good evening, gentlemen." Venom said stepping into view.

"Let us down you fucking bitch!" One of the men yelled.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Venom replied, her voice cold. "You broke into my home, you invaded my property, and now that you've gotten caught it's somehow my responsibility to get you out of this mess? Not to mention the fact that you were just very rude to me?" Venom glared at the man and he stopped protesting. "You're damn lucky this is a new carpet and I don't want to get blood over it, otherwise I would slit your throat and watch you bleed out." Venom had walked up to the man and held a knife at his throat. She flicked her wrist and cut his cheek. Venom walked over to the kitchen and put a rag under where his blood was dripping so it wouldn't stain her carpet. Venom looked over at the second guy and realized he had pissed himself in fear. "Sweet Jesus," Venom mumbled. "I didn't even threaten you and you've pissed yourself!" She shook her head and laughed. "Where does the Joker even find you guys, you are the most pathetic lackeys I've ever seen." With that Venom walked past the men and into her kitchen. She had come home to cook dinner and she would be damned if two guys hanging in her entry hall were going to stop her.

Venom browned some meat and started making tomato sauce. Once the sauce began to boil she put some noodles on to cook and walked over to her phone. She dialed the number she had memorized from the Joker's phone. "Hey Jeff, it's Venom again." She said after she heard someone pick up. "The Joker nearby?"

"Why do you want to talk to the Joker?" Jeff questioned, he wasn't just about to hand the phone to his boss, if the Joker didn't want to talk to the girl and Jeff handed him the phone, Jeff could very well end up dead.

"I've got some of his men here, they're a little…hung up at the moment, and I need to know whether the Joker wants them alive or not." Venom's voice sounded sweet, and if it weren't for the words she said you would think she was having a normal conversation about a cute guy or something.

"Shit," Jeff swore, "one sec." Venom heard some muffled voices before the Joker picked up the phone.

"Well hello bea-u-ti-ful." The Joker said, "What can I uh do for ya?" He giggled at the end of his sentence.

"Do you want your guys or not?" Venom asked. "Because having them hanging in my entry way is making it rather difficult to focus on dinner. So either you come here and pick them up, or I kill them and dump their bodies somewhere." Venom heard one of the guys whimper. "Oh my God shut up!" Venom yelled at him. "Seriously, show some fucking grace under pressure." Venom heard the Joker laugh over the phone.

"Are you, uh, in-vit-ing me over for _dinner_?" The Joker questioned. "Is this-ah a date?"

"No, if this were a date, you would be paying." Venom replied without missing a beat. "My address is 1473 West Elm Street, apartment number 713. You should knock before coming in otherwise you'll be trapped too." Venom hung up the phone, not waiting to hear if the Joker was coming or not. "Hey, crybaby," Venom shouted at the men, "how long does it take to get here from your hideout?"

"A-about f-fifteen minutes." One of the guys answered. Venom honestly had no idea if it was the one who had pissed himself, or the one who was bleeding. She didn't really care that much. Venom set a timer for 18 minutes, if the Joker wasn't here by then she would kill his guys. After 17 minutes there was a knock at her door. Venom put down her knife and fork and walked over to the entryway.

"Knock, knock." The Joker said from the opposite side of the door. Venom smiled and decided to play along.

"Who's there?" She asked.

"Mistah." The Joker replied smiling.

"Mistah who?"

"Mistah J!" The Joker exclaimed happily before he started laughing.

Venom opened the door and let him in. "For the record, that wasn't even remotely funny."

"You've uh just got to get-ah a better sense of humor." The Joker explained walking in the door. "Hello boys, how's it uh _hang_ing?" Venom laughed quietly at his pun.

"See _that? _That was funny." Venom told him. "So do you want them back?"

"I'm a bit uh sho**rt** on men at the moment, so un-for-tun-ate-ly, yes." The Joker replied.

"Your care for your men is truly overwhelming." Venom replied sarcastically as she walked over to her room and released the nets. The men fell to the floor in a heap before untangling themselves from the net.

"Go wait in the car." The Joker told them, jerking his head to the door.

"Um. Hold on one sec." Venom interrupted. "Piss boy, clean up the puddle." Venom threw some paper towels and cleaning spray at one of the guys. The guy looked at the Joker, asking for permission, but Venom cleared her throat and played with a knife that had not been in her hands a second ago. "Clean. The. Floor." Venom repeated "Or your friend over there will be cleaning up your blood." The guy's eyes grew wide and he dropped to the floor, cleaning up his puddle.

"I like you doll. I like you a lo**t**." The Joker smiled widely at her.

"Good for you," Venom replied. Piss boy finished cleaning and ran outside to wait in the car, he didn't want to stay near that woman a moment longer. Sure the Joker was a little crazy and could snap at any moment, but he worked for the Joker, so the Joker would at least think about if before he killed him, that woman though? There was no telling what she would do. Even having the Joker right next to her did nothing to hold her back. The man shivered to think what would happen if those two teamed up. Good thing the Joker liked being the only boss, he would never work _with_ someone, and it didn't seem like the woman would agree to work _under_ someone.

As soon as his goon ran out of the room the Joker turned to Venom. "I have a, uh, business pro**p**-o-sition for ya," The Joker said. Venom raised an eyebrow waiting for him to continue. "I think we could-ah bring this city to it's knees." The Joker explained. "I wan**t** to, uh, hire you."

"Thanks but no thanks _Mistah J,_" Venom said sarcastically, "but I don't work _for_ anyone. Have a great night." She gestured towards the door, but the Joker just started laughing.

"Goo**d**," he said. I'd be uh dis-a-ppoin**t**-ed if ya did."

"Was that a test?" Venom questioned.

"Ye**p**!" the Joker replied popping the 'p'. "And you uh passed with flying colors."

"So what's your actual proposition then?" Venom inquired. "I don't have all night."

"My or-ig-in-al statement stands." The Joker answered, "We could bring this city to its knees. I'm offering you a never before offered position." The Joker explained, gesturing wildly with his hands. "I wan**t** you-ah to be my partner in crime." The Joker smiled, showing off his yellow teeth.

Venom looked at the Joker, "For some reason I don't think you work well with others." Venom replied, making the Joker laugh.

"Oh you are too funny!" The Joker giggled. "And normally you're righ**t**, I don'**t**. But you," The Joker pointed a finger in Venom's direction. "You're, uh, different, _better_ than everyone else." The Joker explained. "I can't quite put my finger on how, but uh I know you _are_."

Venom stopped to think about it, she had never worked with someone before. Back in Chicago the only other major criminals were the mob, and she would never work with them, not after what they did to her. But the Joker was most definitely not the mob, he hated everything the mob stood for. And he did know the city better than she did. Plus if she got tired of working with him, she could just kill him. Her mind was made up, but she didn't want the Joker to think he had convinced her so easily. "Do I have time to consider your offer?" She inquired, twirling a knife in her hands.

"Su-**re** doll." The Joker drawled. "Here's my card." He left a joker card with a phone number on it and walked out her door. Venom smiled once he left. Oh yes, Gotham was going to be fun.

A/N: …ok so I have no excuse for it taking me this long to update, I mean like I have an excuse but it still shouldn't have taken me this long to update. I've been really obsessed with gay shipping recently and have been really into Sherlock. So um I'm really sorry it's taken me this long! I hope you can forgive me!

A/N 2:So even though I'm super sorry for taking so long, see above note, I'm not sure how often I'll update. I'll try to make it much more often than this last update was but don't expect like weekly updates.

A/N 3: So yay! They finally met! I hope you all liked it. Obviously this is a Joker/OC fanfic, but I don't want to jump into things. So don't expect any romance…or whatever you would call something with the Joker, anytime soon, but I promise it is coming! Please review! More reviews make me feel more guilt for not posting which makes me post more often!


	4. Absolutely Crazy

Venom twirled a knife in her hands absentmindedly as she waited to Mike to get to her apartment. It had been a few days since the Joker had given her the proposition, and even though she had already decided to accept she wanted to make the Joker wait a while. It was a pride thing. She also really wanted to see Mike's face when she told him what she was planning on doing. She had already made sure her security cameras were working so she could capture the moment.

Soon a knock came from the door. Venom jerked towards the sound and cut herself with her knife. It was one of her poisonous ones, but luckily over the years she had built up an immunity to most of the poisons she worked with. Wiping the blood on her jeans Venom went to open the door. "Hey luv," She said as Mike walked in, "How've ya been?" She hadn't visited him since her little meeting with the Joker; she'd started work at the garage and time and just kind of gotten away from her.

"Not bad, it's nice not having a dead bouncer."

"You're welcome." Venom interrupted, smiling.

Mike just shook his head and continued. "By the way you owe me $700 for the bouncer." Venom nodded and walked over to her purse, pulling out a wad of cash and throwing it at Mike.

"Keep the change, because your face in a minute is going to be priceless." Venom smirked as she sat back down.

"V, what did you do?" Mike asked, his eyes growing wide.

"See? I haven't even told you what happened and your face is already hilarious! Sit down old man, trust me you're going to want to be seated." Mike did as she said and sat down next to her. "Ok, so you know how the Joker had guys looking for me?" Venom began. Mike nodded, not really trusting his voice at this point. "Right so I got home at night a couple of days ago and a couple of the Joker's men had set off my security system and were hanging from my ceiling. I walked past them and started cooking dinner, then called Jeff-"

"Wait, who's Jeff?" Mike interrupted.

"He works for the Joker," Venom explained. "Anyway, then I called Jeff who got the Joker on the line and I basically told him to come pick his guys up or I was going to kill them. So the Joker came, I released his guys, we had a nice chat and he gave me a proposition."

"Wait, just let me get this straight, you _invited_ the Joker over to your place? And then you "chatted" with him?" Mike questioned. Venom had been right, his face was priceless, and it was only going to get better.

"Ye**p**" Venom replied, popping the 'p' like the Joker. "And long story short, he asked me to be his partner in crime." Venom smiled at Mike. Mike opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it and closed his mouth. Only to open it again, splutter out something incomprehensible and shut it once more.

Finally Mike seemed to find his voice, "V, are you _crazy_?" He asked, looking at her as if she had grown a third head. Venom just smiled at him, she was enjoying this. "Working with the Joker? Do you have a death wish? You know how easily and often he kills his men!" Mike shouted.

"Good thing I'm female then." Venom joked, but Mike didn't laugh.

"Venom, this isn't funny. Please tell me you haven't accepted yet!" he practically begged her.

"Of course I haven't." Venom replied insulted. "I'm not going to look fucking desperate! I'm waiting for a while."

"And then you're going to call him and say no, right?" Mike asked her. Venom simply raised an eyebrow at him. "Venom, please tell me you're going to say no."

"Where would be the fun in that?" She questioned. "C'mon Mikey, think what we could do together. We could make this town come to its knees in a matter of months." She looked over at Mike who looked extremely pale. "And plus, if I get annoyed with him or don't like working with him anymore, I can just kill the Joker." She added in an attempt to comfort Mike. She didn't approve when people reacted this strongly to news, but she liked Mike, they had been friends since first grade, and this _was_ pretty big news, so she let it slide.

"Kill the Joker?" Mike asked her. "Seriously, that's your plan if things get out of hand? V, people have been trying to capture the Joker for years with no luck, let alone kill him."

"Um, yeah, and that's their problem. Especially Batman." Venom replied. "Seriously, how are they planning on beating the Joker, if they're playing handicapped? Batman won't kill, the Joker will. Batman fights honourably, the Joker doesn't. Same with GCPD. Me on the other hand? I fight dirty, and I have no qualms killing him if it becomes necessary. I'll be fine." She patted Mike's cheek as she got up to make tea, she felt like Mike could use its calming powers. "So I'm thinking of calling him today and accepting, I just wanted to give you a heads up."

"You are absolutely crazy." Mike told her. "What's going to keep him from killing you when he gets bored of you?"

"Well it's a bit hard to kill people when you're already dead, so I'll just have to make sure to kill him first." Venom replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You worry too much for a criminal."

"Well I'm not exactly a criminal, they just come to my club. Technically I don't do anything illegal." Mike retorted.

"Yeah?" Venom challenged, "What did you do with the body of the bouncer?"

"Ok, so I normally don't do anything illegal," Mike amended. Venom smirked at him in victory. "So there is no possible way I can talk you out of this?" Mike asked, already knowing the answer.

"None whatsoever." Venom replied. "Now stop worrying and drink your tea." She commanded as she placed his tea in front of him.

Mike stayed for a few more minutes but eventually he had to go back to his club. When he left Venom figured it was probably as good a time as any to call the Joker. She walked over to her room and picked up the Joker card. "I swear to God if this is a fake number," she mumbled under her breath as she dialed the number on the card.

The Joker was getting a little annoyed. It had been almost a week since he had given Venom the proposition, and he still hadn't heard back from her. It's not like he needed to work with her, oh no he was just fine on his own! It's just he didn't like having to wait for her to call him. _I should have given her a deadline._ He grumbled to himself as he glanced over at the phone again. The week had gone by as normal, he hadn't really pulled any big stunts in a while. He was waiting from Venom. That would be a great time, the two of them working together. Gotham wouldn't know what hit 'em.

The Joker was pulled out of his musings by his phone ringing, eagerly he reached for it, but waited a moment before picking up, he didn't need Venom to know that he had been waiting for her. "Hell-o," He said as he picked up his phone.

"You picked up rather quickly, Joker." Venom said, "Were you waiting for me?" The Joker could practically hear the smirk she was probably wearing. He silently cursed himself; he should have waited longer.

"I don't wait for people doll," The Joker replied. "My phone just happened to me right next to me when you called."

"Sure it was, anyway I've called to answer your proposition." The Joker rolled his eyes; of course that's why she was calling! That was exactly what he had told her to do. "I'm in, but on one condition."

"Depends on the condition dollface." The Joker answered, he liked her. Most people wouldn't dare to demand conditions while working with him.

"Ok, make that two conditions." Venom amended. "One, don't ever call me dollface again. It's creepy. Second, Mike is off limits. I really don't care what else we do, but we leave Mike and his club out of it."

_Hm,_ the Joker thought to himself _very interesting, I'll have to look into Mike more closely_. The Joker assumed she was talking about the guy whose bouncer she had killed just a few weeks ago. "Works for me _doll_" The Joker responded smiling. He hung up before she could yell at him for calling her doll. In his defense he hadn't said dollface!

Venom glared at the phone in her hand before laughing. Even though it was annoying, the Joker had been pretty funny. Not that she would ever tell him that. He still hadn't told her if they should meet up or something, and she didn't feel like calling him back, so she decided to shoot him a text.

_So is this going to be one of those weird partnerships where we live separately but we're still a family unit and the kids spend time at both of our places, or are we taking the next huge step in our relationship and moving in together? –V_

A few minutes later Venom got a text back.

_Move in, I wouldn't want to stress out the kids, 1437 North Cumberland St -J_

Venom closed her phone and packed up some of her things. She still really loved her apartment and wasn't ready to leave it yet. Plus it would be nice to have a place to crash if the Joker ever annoyed her, which would probably be pretty often. So she left most of the things there. When she was done packing she only had three bags to bring to the Jokers. It would be easy to fit the stuff in the bags on her bike. Before she left she shot Mike a text.

_About to dance with the devil, wish me luck ;)-V_

She only had to wait a few seconds before she got a reply.

_You are completely mental. Try not to die. –M_

Venom laughed to herself about Mike's overprotective tendencies before closing her door and setting her security system. Just because she wasn't going to live here anymore didn't mean that she was going to leave it unprotected. She walked down to the garage where her bike was parked and in a few minutes she was on her way to the Joker's. It only took her about 15 minutes to get to the address the clown and given to her. As she had expected he lived in the Narrows. The buildings around it looked like they had been deserted for a long time, and if she hadn't known the address she would have been hard pressed to find the place on her own. She pulled her bike into an alley and hid it as best she could, if she came back and found it stolen there would be hell to pay. As she walked up to the entrance of the building she felt eyes on her, but decided to ignore them for now. It was always best to have the element of surprise, and if her watcher didn't know she was aware of them, she could use that to her advantage. Just as she was about to knock on the door she felt a gun pressed to her back.

"What are you doing here?" A rough voice asked her. Instead of responding, Venom quickly turned around, grabbed the arm that was holding the gun, and disarmed him. Before he could recover she had grabbed one of her own guns and pointed it towards him.

"Open the door, would you luv?" She asked him. The man hesitated, and she saw his eyes flick over to his gun. Venom rolled her eyes and cocked her gun, "That wasn't really a request." The man shakily walked over to the door and took out a key, opening the door. Venom shoved him inside and he stumbled, almost falling over.

"Honey, I'm home!" Venom shouted out. Almost immediately she was surrounded by goons.

"Drop your weapon." A voice told her. The voice sounded familiar so Venom turned to face him. When she saw him her face broke into a smile.

"Ah, Jeff, it's so nice to see you again." Venom told him, walking towards him with complete disregard of the guns trained on her. "Didn't the Joker tell you to be expecting me?" Just at that moment the Joker came bounding down the stairs. "Speak of the devil," Venom mumbled to herself. The Joker took one look at Venom surrounded by his men and started laughing. Venom rolled her eyes and walked over to him. "Where's my room?"

The Joker finally stopped laughing and looked at her. "Upstairs and second on the left, I'll show you." He turned around and began walking away. "Oh, by the way guys, you may uh want to put your weapons down, Venom here can get a little testy." Instead of replying Venom just turned around and smirked at the men before following the Joker upstairs.

A/N 1: Ok so I realize that this is a lot shorter than my normal chapters, and I 'm really sorry. Apparently overloading your school schedule means that you have less time and more homework…who knew? Anyway so I didn't have a lot of time to write this but I didn't want to have it be another year before I updates again. So here it is!

A/N 2: So I'm going to try to update stories at least semiregularly, but that doesn't mean often. My hope is to post one chapter to either this story or my other Joker story once a month. I know it's not often but with my schedule it's the best I can do.

A/N 3: I know not a lot happened in this chapter, it's kind of a filler, to set things up with Venom and the Joker working together. Don't worry things will pick up soon! As always reviews are welcome!


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